Draupadi Swayamvara, Story of Jarasandha

Hari Om! 11/11/12
Class Summary:
Today we started our class with three Om’s and we did our prayers. We then learned that the five Pandavas are alive. We also learned that Draupadi marries the five Pandavas who are, Yudhisthira; Bheema; Arjuna; Nakula; and Sahadeva. Also, we learned that King Brihadratha who was married to twin daughters of the King of Kashi didn’t have children for a long time.
Remember that Diwali is on Tuesday!
Story of Jarasandha:
King Brihadratha and his 2 queens who were childless, meet a Sage named Chanda – Kausika. The king then asked for a son and the Sage gave him a mango blessed with mantras as prasad. The king knew the two queens would fight over the juicy fruit, so he decided to cut the fruit in half, and gave to his wives. The two queens gave birth, but were in shock because one queen gave birth to one half body of a child. The queens then put the babies into the stream. But then a Rakshasi called ‘Jara’ saw the half bodies during her wandering, and wanted to eat them because she saw two pieces of meat. The woman then picked the two babies up and kept them together. All of a sudden the half babies combined and became one healthy child. The queens head this great news and wanted to claim the child, taking him back to their palace. The king heard this story and named the child ‘Jarasandha’. Jarasandha grew up to be a very powerful king and ruled Magadha.
Draupadi’s Swayamvara:
The whole time the people thought that the Pandavas were missing or they thought the Pandavas was dead. The people were very sad and wanted them to return. King Drupada of Panchala was having the swayamvara of his daughter Draupadi. The Pandavas went to Pancala and attended the swayamvara disguised as Brahmanas. Nobody recognized the five Pandavas except Krishna and Balarama. Arjuna passes the test put forth by the king to win Draupadi. He shot the “fish target” by sending 5 successive arrows through the rotating disc below the target. None of the other princes were able to do this except Arjuna. Arjuna then goes to his mother and told her that he wants got her a gift. Kunti tells her son to share it with all the brothers. Unable to go against his mother’s wishes, all five brothers agree to marry Draupadi. Draupadi was okay with this because in the previous life she got a boon from Lord Shiva, which she could marry someone that had all good qualities, and the Pandavas had the good qualities she wanted.
When the Pandavas and Draupadi were talking Dhrishtadyumna who had secretly followed them, overheard them. Dhrishtadyumna was then overjoyed to hear the news and raced to tell everyone the delightful news, that the Pandavas were alive. When Dhuryodhana heard the news he was mad and upset that they were alive. He thought they would be gone for good.
Arjuna marries Subhadra:
When Arjuna wants to marry Krishna’s sister Subhadra, Krishna reads his mind. Later Arjuna brings a chariot and carries away Subhadra with him. Soon people find out she’s missing and try to find her. Krishna knows who took Subhadra and informs them. The people found Subhadra and Arjuna and brought them back. Soon then they got married.